Monday, 20 April 2015

The activity in South Florida mirrors a national trend in foreclosure increases.It was because of a jump in bank repossessions of homes.The firm found 6,329 foreclosure filings in area, up from 4,577 filings in February. A filing counts as a new foreclosure lawsuit, a judgment or a repossession.

The March increase is continued cleanup of distress still lingering from the previous housing crisis.Some of most stubborn foreclosure cases are finally being flushed out of the foreclosure pipeline, and we would expect to see more noise in the numbers over the next few months as national foreclosure activity makes its way back to more stable patterns by the end of this year.

This is as healthy a market as we have seen since the boom. We wrote $400 million in real estate contracts during the quarter, which was the second strongest March in our 89-year history with only March 2005 beating these numbers.

3,169 foreclosure filings in March, up 58 percent from February and up 68 percent from March 2014.

1,872 foreclosure filings in March, up 29 percent from February but down 49 percent from March 2014.

1,288 foreclosure filings in March, up 16 percent from February but down 21 percent from March 2014.

Monday, 6 April 2015

Even the slightest movement in mortgage rates can translate into more or less of a buyer’s purchasing power. Currently rates are still historically low however it looks like they could be going up. The Federal Reserve is planning to raise rates in the second or third quarter of this year but timing remains unclear. The big question is whether the Fed will vote for an interest rate hike on mortgages to take effect in June.

If they do, expect jam-packed open houses and less inventory. Russ Whitney claims that as rates go up, people qualify for less, so you’ll probably get a smaller house. If you're a seller, you may find your open house slightly busier this spring especially when there’s rumblings of an interest rate hike, it causes a scare among buyers and people go out to look at properties. It gives sellers more leverage, because buyers want a place and they want it quickly before rates potentially rise.

If the increase happens, between now and June you'll see buyers that are on the fence more likely to follow through on the spring market. People will try to get in before rates rise and we might see prices rise. Sellers will still, for the most part, have the upper hand. For those who considering putting their home on the market this spring should take advantage of this mini-rush.